12 Great Living Filmmakers Who Have Never Won A Best Director Oscar

It’s the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony. The winner for best director is announced, and Ron Howard gets out of his seat and makes his way to the stage to accept the award for his work on "A Beautiful Mind." For a few seconds, as Howard makes his way up to the stage, the camera pans to fellow nominee David Lynch going up to other nominee, the late great Robert Altman, and consoling him about the defeat.

With one arm around Altman, we can’t quite make out what Lynch is telling him, but rest assured it wasn’t "the best man won." 

The sad tradition of not honoring the right filmmakers will likely continue for the Academy. Further proof can be found with these 12 greats who haven’t won for their directing yet, with some not even having a single nomination to their name. Here’s hoping that a few of the following directors will make it up to the stage in the near future.

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Ridley Scott

Although "The Martian" is not the greatest work he’s ever done, most people were not only predicting a Ridley Scott nomination, but even an actual win. The master might still have quite a few more gems left in him, but "The Martian" was his best shot – a crowd-pleaser that made a ton of money and solidified his stamp as a great visionary of sci-fi. Up next for him is "Kitbag," an ambitious tacklement of Napoleon Bonaparte’s life.

Trademark Films: "Alien," "Blade Runner," "Gladiator," "American Gangster," "Black Hawk Down."

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 3

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Richard Linklater

Of all the great American filmmakers who haven’t won the Best Director Oscar prize yet, Richard Linklater is up there with the most deserving. His filmography is as original and diverse as they come. Linklater has been a peculiarly idiosyncratic filmmaker these last three decades, the kind of artist that keeps reinventing himself. His very best films are the ones that feature naturalist, almost improv-like, dialogue mixed with the kind of subtly assured camerawork. His Rohmer-inspired style might not be flashy enough for the Academy, but it’s the kind of filmmaking that is built to stand the test of time.

Trademark Films: "Boyhood," "Before Trilogy," "Dazed and Confused," "Waking Life”

Oscar Nominations For Directing: 1

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David Fincher

If a case could ever be made about how awards-worthy David Fincher is, he probably wouldn’t want to hear about it anyway. Fischer, instead, is more interested in making vital art. If his films are at first met with polite approval (check out release date reviews of "Se7en," "Fight Club" and "Zodiac") they still end up lingering in our heads, aging like fine wine and becoming stone-cold classics. His static, highly controlled camera compositions enhance feelings of dread and coldness in the characters and situations he portrays, and he is a modern master at crafting tension and well-founded fear.

Trademark Films: "The Social Network," "Zodiac," "Fight Club," "Se7en”

Oscar Nominations For Directing: 3

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David Lynch

The day David Lynch wins an Oscar will probably be the day our society has a significant cultural shift and abstract surrealist cinema is actually making millions at the American box-office. Imagine a society where a David Lynch could potentially become mainstream; it briefly happened in the early ‘90s when, for one season, ABC’S "Twin Peaks" was the toast of the town. Of course, Lynch couldn’t help it and slowly veered the series’ tone into, well, a David Lynch kind of world, filled with abstract ideas, unresolved mysteries and the strangest of characters. 

Trademark Films: "Mulholland Drive," "Blue Velvet," "The Elephant Man”

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 3

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Pedro Almodóvar

Although he hails from Spain, Pedro Almodóvar has gained a solid following in the United States and he even got a best director nod in 2002 for his masterwork, "Talk to Her." His films are filled with acerbically comic wit that we’ve audiences have grown to love since his 1987 breakout hit, "Law of Desire." His aesthetic brilliance goes far beyond surface beauty, and he has written some of the strongest, most eloquent roles for female actresses in the history of the art form (and he basically kick-started Penelope Cruz’s career). If there ever was a foreign filmmaker who could defy the odds and become the first one to ever win a best director Oscar for a foreign film, it’s Almodóvar. 

Trademark Films: "Talk To Her," "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown," "Broken Embraces," "The Skin I Live In," "All About My Mother."

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 1

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Paul Thomas Anderson

Starting off his career with the Altman/Scorsese-inspired "Hard Eight," "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," there seemed to have been a shift in Anderson’s style post-"Punch Drunk Love" in 2002. The best living filmmaker working today, P.T. Anderson has quintessentially reinvented cinema with his twin peaks "There Will Be Blood" and "The Master" – two bold, unique, ambitious films that signified a forward step in American filmmaking. These were such exceptional works, from a director boldly going into new places, that comparisons to Kubrick were inevitable. In fact, if there is any director today who could be compared to Kubrick, it would be P.T. Anderson. Kubrick never got his due, winning an Oscar only for best special effects, and one can only hope that Anderson won’t be given the same fate.

Trademark Films: "There Will Be Blood," "The Master," "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," Phantom Thread"

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 2

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Christopher Nolan

The most popular filmmaker of the 21st century has never been warmed up to by the Academy. Why? Maybe it’s the fact that, despite his mainstream popularity, Christopher Nolan’s films aren’t necessarily the most straightforward or accessible. Using non-linear narratives on more than a few occasions, not to mention mind-challenging concepts, much like most of the directors on this list, Nolan just doesn’t make movies with the intention of winning Oscars. Instead, Nolan would rather tackle his most personal obsessions, daring his audience to jump into the wild blue with every film he makes.

Trademark Films: "Memento," "The Dark Knight," "Inception" "Dunkirk"

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 1

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David Cronenberg

If one theme keeps resonating among the directors of this list, it’s that they never seem to play it safe; these are directors who don’t make movies that are meant for awards consideration. Oscar bait they are not, which perfectly describes the films of Canadian master David Cronenberg. He’s never gotten a single writing, directing or producing nomination from the Academy in his 40+ year career. That means classics such as "Videodrome," "The Fly," "Dead Ringers," "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises" were not even mentioned in their respective years – as if they never existed. Time always has a way of making things better and that’s what’s happened to these films: They’ve lasted. Cronenberg will turn 79 in March, and he still makes smart, urgent films about his deepest obsessions, and never strives for the conventionality that wins awards. His parasite-filled, sexually taboo-heavy and ultra-violent films are what dreams are made of. Or is that nightmares?

Trademark Films: "Videodrome," "The Fly," "Dead Ringers," "A History of Violence," "Eastern Promises."

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 0

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Brian De Palma

If David Fincher has been channeling Hitchcock for the last two decades, Brian De Palma has been doing it for the last five decades. De Palma has referenced Hitch by constantly casting blondes as leading ladies, using Hitchcock regular Bernard Hermann’s scores and – more importantly – copying camera techniques of such films as "Vertigo," "Rear Window" and "Psycho." Of course De Palma has still managed to infuse his own auteur voice into his films; he’s one of the very best filmmakers for the long take/tracking shot and his constant use of the split screen has been nothing short of revolutionary. His familiar obsessions still linger inside him as he continues making movies decade after decade, but an Oscar nomination, in any category, still hasn’t happened.

Trademark Films: "Blow Out," "Carrie," "Dressed to Kill," "Carlito’s Way," "Scarface," "Body Double."

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 0

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Spike Lee

If any director can attest to getting the shaft from the academy, it’s Spike Lee. His greatest movie, "Do the Right Thing," didn’t even get a best picture nomination in 1989, with the Academy instead opting for the safer, gentler, but nevertheless forgettable, whimsical depiction of racism in "Driving Miss Daisy." We all know which film stood the test of time and which film, as Lee pointed out recently, is taught in film schools all across the U.S. It wasn’t just that movie, either: His incendiary film about Malcom X couldn’t muster anything, except a best actor nomination for Denzel Washington. Just like some of the great directors of his time, Lee’s films have aged very well and he keeps pushing the envelope, most recently in 2020’s “Da 5 Bloods.”

Trademark Films: "Do the Right Thing," "Malcom X," "The 25th Hour," "Summer of Sam," "BlackKklansman."

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 1

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Quentin Tarantino

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny the impact Quentin Tarantino has had on film culture over the last 25 years. Contrary to the other filmmakers on this list, he has actually won an Oscar before, actually two, both for best original screenplay. No best director Oscar, though. It is, however, quite impressive how his brand of filmmaking has transferred to the mainstream and actually makes money. Even when "Pulp Fiction" came out in 1994, nobody would have thought Tarantino would release a film 15 years later that would amass $320 million in worldwide box office receipts (that would be "Inglourious Basterds").

Trademark Films:"Pulp Fiction," "Reservoir Dogs," "Jackie Brown," "Kill Bill," "Inglourious Basterds."

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 3

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Terrence Malick

Many critics believe there was no better movie released in the last decade than Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life.” The reclusive filmmaker got an Oscar nomination for that film, but ended up losing to, of all filmmakers, The Artist’s Michael Hazanavicius. His staggering filmography has been imitated for decades; the natural surrealism, the poetry found in everyday life, and the broad philosophical and spiritual overtones, such as meditative voice-overs. One can assume that Malick couldn’t care less about being Oscar-less and that’s part of the reason why we love his movies: they’re not made to adhere to any concrete Oscar-bait criteria. It’s already a miracle he’s managed to snag two Best Director nominations so far in his career.

Trademark films: Days of Heaven, Badlands, The Thin Red Line, Tree of Life

Oscar Nominations for Directing: 2